Dialogue about administrative reform in tax and custom held in Hanoi

A dialogue meeting between the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and businesses about administrative reform in tax and custom was held on January 5th, in Hanoi.

The meeting was coordinated by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Ministry of Finance (the Vietnam General Statistic Office and the General Department of Vietnam Customs).

Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Minister of MoF Do Hoang Anh Tuan said that modifications were undertaken in Value Added Tax (VAT), Business Income Tax, Personal Income Tax and Special Consumption Tax, offering conditions for people and businesses to accumulate and re-produce.

According to Deputy Minister Tuan, nearly 70% of tax enumeration were implemented via the Internet, contributing to reducing money and time of enumerating on paper. Deputy Minister Tuan emphasized the necessity of speeding up tax refund for export commodities because many businesses had enough documents but they could not receive tax refund.

In the 2008-2010 period, the customs sector carried out reform and modernized with Vietnam’s WTO accession, thus, imports and exports of commodities, transport and immigration increased rapidly. Export turnover is expected to reach US$ 83.76 billion in 2010, with an average growth of 20 percent per annum while import turnover is expected to reach US$ 123.55 billion, with an average growth of 25% per annum. Moreover, about 13.75 million of tourists immigrated to Vietnam in 2007 and the figure is expected to reach about 23.7 million in 2010.

A series of queries of small and medium-sized businesses about obstacles in tax refund and custom procedures was responded by Deputy Minister Tuan (CPV)